A Major Announcement

Well. D, Pee Wee and I are thrilled to announce that we will have something pretty major to take care of for the next few decades beginning September 2017. It's truly going to be a labor of love because we are...

BUILDING A HOUSE!

Nope, not pregnant, sorry y'all. Hopefully in 2019!

Now that I've let you all in on our big news, here are some things you all cannot do:

Tell me horror stories about contractors

Tell me horror stories about builders

Make me feel guilty about building a house (yes, it's a thing*)

Ok, so that's pretty much it. We didn't go into this lightly, and it took us a long time to find the right builder (we met with one that was a grumpy, grumpy man) and we feel confident it will go well. We have a realtor helping us every step of the way, and I truly love our builder. He gets us, he has good taste, and he's all about making us me happy.

We chose a great location in a gated community where property values will hold or increase (darn taxes!), and overall this is as close to a dream home as we can get for our budget and tiny lots here in the Coastal Bend.

Truthfully this house doesn't have absolutely everything I could want or dream of, but for that I'd need copious amounts of money. The biggest thing I can say I am "giving up" is a fireplace, but I've come to terms with it essentially just being a giant shelf on which to place decor and for that I can just get a console table and move on with my life. Also, we lived on nearly an acre before and this lot will be TINY and therefore have a yard we can clip with scissors. Kidding. But it is smaller, and that's a "sacrifice" we made for location and price.

The house will be four-sided stucco, which does well in the local climate. It will be a single-story home with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and be about 2050 square feet. It will be all tile throughout, and I don't think I'm going to change the tile in the bathrooms so that the home is all cohesive and seamless (and my flooring will be cheaper and therefore I can splurge on lighting!).

Much like all those House Hunters shows, the living/kitchen/dining will be open concept and I love the layout. I am already thinking of where the heck to place my Christmas trees, yes treeS, and I'm excited to get to pick out every darn thing that will go into our new home. We also have a huge walk-in pantry to stash all my home decor and snacks.

I envision having a holiday themed housewarming party in early December, and now I need to find a 10-11 foot Christmas tree that won't break the bank.

And I know my espresso cabinet tutorial is MEGA popular, so don't hate me but I'm going with a white kitchen... #donthatemeplease

Here's the layout:

The house should be completed by mid-September, and I pinky promise I'll share every step of the process with you all with pics, updates, and advice, PLUS of course I'll need your help/input on design choices because I am so indecisive and want this to be perfect, on budget, and timeless.

*I sometimes feel I'm not worthy of this life, but we've worked so hard and I want to enjoy this. But I feel guilty. I'm weird about things that way.

Here are some pictures of a home with a very similar layout/finishes to give you an idea of what the overall look will be like.

Kitchen/Foyer/Living: The main changes we will have is a wall oven/microwave to the left of where the current cabinets end, a gas cooktop, plus a larger island. Flooring will also be a wood look tile. Over the 8' island, I am thinking of a linear crystal chandelier like the ones I featured on the blog earlier. The island will seat 4.

Master Bedroom: Main changes here will be a door to patio for ease of letting Pee Wee out at 3:05 a.m. daily and tile floors.

Master Closet: Pretty much will be as seen here. There's even more shelves to the left by the light.

Master Bathroom: I'm likely going to choose a marble look tile and brass shower fixtures. I despise mosaic/rock tile shower floors, so we're opting for a shower pan that is easy to clean. I know they may not be pretty, but they're practical.

That's a sneak peek of the kind of fabulous work our builder does. In about 2-4 weeks we should have the foundation ready and poured, so I hope this will move along on schedule.

Do you have any tips or home features I should think of before the construction gets going? I already asked for outlets in the living room floor for table/floor lamps.

If you read this far, bless your heart! xo. Next post will be more about the house, specifically my plight of finding a high-quality sofa I love for the new house.

Oh how fabulous Monica, I am so happy for you. I can't wait to follow along. I know you will have a wonderful time picking out all your fixtures, tiles and fittings. I have had so much fun making our new home us, so I know you will have double the fun too.

Congratulations on your new home! I just designed and built my house last year. I totally understand feeling guilty but I'm very appreciative and grateful for what we have worked hard for. Your're absolutely right about the shower floor! Maintenance trumps uncomfortable rocks! A suggestion to utilize the space to the right of the refrigerator would be adding more cabinets or a desk. Selecting everything can be overwhelming to the point where you start choosing quickly because you don't want to make another decision. Roll with that one. Think about wiring for speakers if you'd like that. Also putting in a central vac was a nice amenity. Enjoy the process! You'll do great!